



IQ 




OUR LIVING BOUQUETS 

PRICE lO CENTS. 



OUR 
LIVING BOUQUETS, 




FEB 23 1883^ 



D. C. MARSH, 



Entered, according to Act of Congress in tile office of the Librarian of Congress, 
in the year 1883, by D. C. Marsh. All rights reserved. 



OIJIl NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS 



AND THBIE 



LIVING BOUQUETS. 



BY D. C. MARSH. 



Our next door neighbors are so kind and so true, 
Is why I am anxious to introduce them to you ; 
Our houses are joining with a fence in between. 
And two yards that are pretty when the 

[grass is bright green. 



2 

Ifow Tom, so I call him, for that is his name, 
Is a lover of children and their neat, pretty games, 
Then as they fl.ock 'round him he learns them to spell 
And oft to amuse them a nice story will tell. 
About his fight with the lions and a big grizzley bear, 
But when he gets through no lions are there. 

IN'ow one day in the summer, 'twas not long ago. 
Our Thomas sat thinking about what he should do. 
In the room by the yard at the back of the house. 
Our Thomas sat musing as still as a mouse. 



3 

When all of a sudden he heard a sweet sound. 
And as it touched on his ear his head turned around, 
'Twas then his big heart did beat with delight, 
For the view through the window was blessing his 
There over the fence, just over the way, [sight. 
Six sweet little children were commencing to play. 

And then he sat looking with a tear in his eye. 
For it brought back his childhood when he was a boy 
And how his sweet mother had watched over him, 
And now like a mother he was looking at them. 



Then a footstep he heard as it touched on the floor. 
So he turned round his head toward the room door, 
And there stood before him in the fuhiess of life, 
The blessing God gave him, his noble, sweet wife. 



Then smiling she said, ^'Wliy Tom, what's the matter 
What is it outside that makes such a clatter ? 
And now I look close, why, Thomas my dear, . 
I see ■ in your eye the track of a tear. 
Now tell me, do tell me what iias happened to-day, 
And see if my hand cannot wipe it away.'' 



Then Tom took her hand as he did years ago, 
And pointed thro' the window to the yard just below. 
^^Look, Oh look ! my Louisa at the groups as they play 
For each one to me is a living bouquet. 
And as their tiny sweet voices send out their perfume 
It seems like a garden of sweet spirits in bloom." 

^^JSTow see Mattie and Carrie and bright little IN'ell, 
Their voices ring out like our old dinner-bell ; 
There is Eddie, Jamsie and Miss Edith Vandott, 
Which gives you the whole and closes the lot. 
May Grod bless the children as we smile at their play, 
And we will thank him for sending such a living 

[bouquet. 



6 
PART 11. 

Not many days after, as Thomas came home, 
He passed up the stands then passed thro' the room 
Not a soul did he see as he crossed o'er the floor, 
'Til he went to the kitchen and looked thro' the door 

Then he saw by the window which gave him new life 
The form of Louisa, his own loving wife. 
She was sitting and looking as he did one day. 
Over in the next yard to see the children play. 

"Why wife of my manhood. Why Louisa my dear. 
What is the attraction that keeps you in here? 
There is something the matter with my darling I fear. 
For 1 see in your eye the remains of a tear." 



"Oh Tom, pray don't tease me but hear how my heart 

[prays. 
For I'm lookmg out there at those hvmg bouquets. 
I was thinking, then looking, then thinking again, 
Away back to the time when I played in the lane." 

"I thought of my home with its bright, shining rays. 
And how I passed up to youth from childhood's 
Until on the eve of a sweet happy day, [sweet ways. 
In a moment of time I became your bouquet." 

Now just think for a moment when our Saviour was 

[here, 
How he talked to the mothers and gave them good 

(cheer. 
In the streets of the city, and on the public highways, 
He looked on their children as living bouquets. 



. 8 

And when they were happy, as mothers could be, 
Then he said to the people/^let them come unto me. 
ISTow bring me your children and adopt their sweet 

(ways, 
For far up in the heavens are such living bouquets.'' 

There is a footstep, Tom, yes I hear it quite near. 
Yes I know it right well Tom, for it is Joseph my dear 
His sweet smiling face that beams out so sweet. 
Is welcomed by us whenever we meet. 
And while on my breast, his head it doth lay, 
I am happy while loving my living bouquet, 

ISTow there is JosephandCarrie,tliereis Jamsie andMati 
Who love the enjoyment of whatever they are at. 
There is Edith, Eddie and Nellie who j oin in the play. 
And I am sure that each one is a living bouquet. 



Will soon be published by the author of ''Our Living (Bouquets." 
One of the most (Beautifully Illustrated, Easter ^Poeins ever issued from 
the press : — entitled, 

"Easter at our House and our Pour Easter Eggs." 

Containing the Chicken's Easter Story. 

" My father, my mother, my brothers and me, 
Asa family of chickens were happy and free ; 
We lived near the farm house in a neat latticed shed, 
Where I laid this big ^^;g, and by the children were fed. 
You may think that a chick should have nothing to say, 
But still I must tell you what happened one day/' — tfec. 



Also.^ J^ew J<J ational Song and Chorus, 

" T^xere is Honey in the Old Hive yet." 

Music by (P. A. Schnecker. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, in the j'ear 1S83. 

Bv D. C. Mahsii. » 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




015 863 649 9 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

015 863 649 9 



